


The Journey Home

by Ambs_Writes



Category: Amar a Muerte (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, High School Drama, Lucho and Sergio will be here but not much, like really small, small town AU, there will be some OCs but they won't be major characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-04 00:34:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17888132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambs_Writes/pseuds/Ambs_Writes
Summary: Her school paperwork filled out and meal finished, Juliana excused herself to her new bedroom. Exhausted from her long day of travelling and confused from the swirl of emotions in her heart, Juliana fell into an uneasy sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Her dreams were filled with soft laughter ringing in her ears, and the most profound sense of forever, of warmth, of home, bracketed by the deepest, clearest blue Juliana had ever seen.Also known as the juliantina hs!au.





	1. Chapter 1

Lupita had told Juliana they were moving for their own safety. Chino’s cartel wouldn’t take kindly to Chino’s execution and could come after them to settle his debts. It was better that they started over somewhere new, somewhere no one would think to look for them. Chino had passed three full weeks before Lupe decided that they needed to leave, Juliana barely had time to pack before she and her mother hopped on a bus heading west. They disembarked in a seemingly random, middle of nowhere town, but Lupita kept glancing around as if expecting to see a familiar face. They grabbed their meager belongings and left the bus stop, Juliana was sure she had never been to this town before, but Lupita seemed to know exactly where she was going.

“Ma, where are you going?” Juliana questioned as she and her mother walked through what seemed to be the town square. Lupita had paused in front of a statue that marked the center of the square, an artful renditioning of a family of pioneers.

“Hush, Juli, we’ll be there soon.” Lupita looked at her phone, studying the words on the screen before tucking the device back into her pocket. “Come, it’s just a little further.”

Juliana huffed as she followed her mother down a stone pathway towards an intersection. As they walked, Juliana took in her surroundings. The town square seemed to be a center for family business, most shops open and inviting. Several windows were decorated with photos of smiling young men dressed in black and red football uniforms. From what Juliana could see, the shops looked to be local, quaint. One advertised homemade bath and beauty products, another a used bookstore, and attached to that a small cafe that seemed to have a good crowd for a tuesday evening.

The backside of the park was lined by several important looking buildings. The largest by far was made of stone, a towering clock tower that Juliana was sure didn’t have the right time acting as a centerpiece. A smaller building sat to the left and slightly behind that largest building, the familiar red coloring of two fire trucks parked in the open garage. The parking lot was lined with pickup trucks covered in varying degrees of dirt. The parking lot seemed to be shared by the third building on the corner of the street that boasted a sign reading “Red Lake Museum.” Juliana frowned thoughtfully. She had never heard of a town called Red Lake, but she hadn’t gone to far from San Antonio since she was a baby so it wasn’t all that surprising. There was another building on the other side of the large stone one, but Juliana would need to turn around to see it fully. Instead, Juliana turned her head to see what shops lined the street to her right, only to be distracted by a young couple emerging from one of the buildings.

The boy seemed aggravated, his arm possessively wrapped around the girl at his side. The hold made the girl seem smaller than she was, her shoulders down and arms curled around herself. Juliana wasn’t close enough to hear what they were saying, but she could tell whatever was being said was done so in anger. The boy grabbed the girl harshly by the upper arms and Juliana had the oddest rush of protectiveness sweep over her. Without realizing it, she took a small step towards the couple. The girl pushed him off, taking a step back to put some distance between them. The movement brought her marginally closer to Juliana, which made her inexplicably happy. Juliana took another step towards the girl, noticing the tips of her fingers stained black as they wrapped around her arms again, only to be stopped by a hand on her own arm.

“Juliana?” Her mother questioned, stepping in front of Juliana and blocking her view of the arguing couple.

“What?” Juliana shook her head to clear it, failing to resist the urge to look over Lupe’s shoulder. The boy was angrily storming off, the girl looking small and defeated as she walked in the opposite direction.

“Why did you stop? I told you, we need to get settled before anything else. It’s still not safe.”

“Perdón, perdón,” Juliana fell into step with her mother again. The continued walking and Juliana was hyper aware of the sad girl walking parrel to her on the other side of the street. She tried not to, but she kept stealing glances at the other girl as they approached the intersection from opposite sides. They had to pause for the light, Juliana pressed the button to signal pedestrians wanting to cross and stuffed her hands into her pockets. The other girl was signaled to cross first, she did so with her arms still wrapped around herself, head down. She walked slowly, for a moment Juliana worried that she wouldn’t make it to the sidewalk before the traffic started again, but she made it safely across.

There was a moment between when the other girl reached the sidewalk and Juliana stepped off that felt heavy. The weight of it settled on Juliana’s shoulders as the girl passed behind her. She was two feet away but Juliana felt her presence as if she was right behind her. Juliana turned her head to the left as she reached the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. The girl kept walking, shoulders shaking slightly. Juliana wondered if she was crying, or trying not to. She felt her heart clench at the thought of this complete stranger crying.

Juliana followed her mother around the corner, the other girl leaving her line of sight but her presence remaining in the forefront of Julian’s mind.

Juliana wasn’t sure how far they had walked when Lupe finally pulled her to a stop outside a run down house. They had travelled from the town square, passing several house, two restaurants, a gas station, and beneath an overpass before turning left and entering a neighborhood composed of house that were slightly run down, paint chipping and roofs shingled unevenly. The streets weren’t lined with sidewalks here so Juliana and her mother walked on the very edge of the paved street.

“We’re here,” Lupe said with a slight smile as she turned to Juliana. “Welcome home, mija.”

“Home?” Juliana questioned, surprised when Lupe pulled two keys out of her pocket. She handed one to Juliana and kept the other, leading her daughter to the door and opening it.

“It’s not much, and the house needs some work but we’ve got running water, electricity, and beds.”

“Mom, what is going on?” Juliana questioned as she took in the houses interior. There were two rooms off the entrance, bedrooms from what Juliana could see through the slightly ajar doors. Taking a step forward, Juliana noticed a third door that lead to the bathroom. Turning to the right, a large open doorway lead to a small living room, a kitchen that doubled as a dining room beyond that to the right. “How did you do all this?”

Lupe looked from her daughter to their surroundings, her jaw working as she tried to come up with a plausible excuse. Juliana knew they didn’t have family in this part of the the state, or anywhere else for that matter. Juliana deserved to know how Lupe had managed to get them a house, a furnished one at that, in the course of what seemed to be a spur of the moment movement, but she wouldn’t like the truth. Juliana didn’t believe that Chino had risen from the dead. She wasn’t at the morgue when it happened, by her own choice. How could Lupe explain that she had called in several favors from a friend she hadn’t seen since high school so she’d be able to follow her now un-dead husband to a middle of nowhere town? That her husband had woken up claiming to be someone else and Lupe had tracked him using the name he swore was his when he woke up?

“I have an old friend who lives here, called in a couple of favors.” A partial truth was better than outright lie.

“An old friend?” Juliana scoffed. “I don’t buy it. What are we really doing here, mom?”

“I already told you,” Lupe raised her voice slightly, not in the mood to deal with Juliana’s stubbornness, “we’re here for your safety. Chino has old debts, debts that we can’t afford to pay. If the cartel finds us…” Lupe trailed off, hoping the implications of what she didn’t say would be enough to keep Juliana from pushing. “I know of a place looking to hire a waitress, I’ll be back soon. Don’t leave the house.”

“Why can’t I come with you? I can get a job, too.”

“No, you’re going to school.” Lupe insisted, holding up a hand to stop Juliana’s protests. “The whole point of this is to keep living our lives like normal. Normal teenagers go to school. My friend had already picked up the registration papers for us, we’ll fill them out tonight so you can start tomorrow.”

Juliana had no desire to change schools in the middle of the fall semester of her sophomore year of high school. She was happy at her school in San Antonio, or at least it was easier to pretend she was. It was a big school, Juliana could fly under the radar without anyone looking at her twice as long as she did her work and kept quiet. Of course, that all changed when her father was arrested and sentenced to death for his affiliation with a cartel. His conviction didn’t exactly surprise Juliana, her father had always been a less than stellar citizen. He was angry, aggressive, always spewing hateful words towards Juliana and her mother. Juliana had learned at a young age to never show any emotion around Chino. A smile would earn her a scolding, a tear would be even worse and Juliana knew to never raise her voice at her father. She had done that once before, matching his angry tone and harsh words in a surge of bravery when she was fourteen. Her bravery had earned her a black eye and her mother pleading for Chino to let it go. Juliana decided she didn’t give a crap about her dad at that moment. Everything bad that happened in her life was a direct result of Chino being her father, even her having to change schools.

Juliana stayed silent, only nodding her head in acknowledgement as her mother left. Alone in her new home, Juliana turned to the two bedrooms and chose one for herself. Throwing her bag in the closet and kicking off her shoes, Juliana laid on the small bed. Her annoyance at her mother’s evasive answers faded as her thoughts turned back to the sad girl she had seen earlier. A part of Juliana wished she had stopped at the crosswalk, said something to the girl, comforted her. It was a strange feeling, one Juliana had never had before. A desperate hope that Juliana hadn’t missed something important, hadn’t lost her chance at something amazing.

Juliana was still thinking about the sad girl and missed moment when her mother returned a few hours later, now employed and carrying food for Juliana in a white take out box. Juliana ate her food quickly, listening to Lupe ramble on about how good this town wound be for them. They would make this place a home. Juliana doubted she would ever feel at home. It was a foreign concept to her. Juliana never had a home. She had a place to sleep and eat, a place to store her clothes but it was nothing more than that. A building meant for shelter. The meaning of home had been destroyed by her father when she was young, the first time the cartel came knocking on their door. The barrels of guns pointed in her direction, the nauseating smell of alcohol and her father’s gruff voice robbed Juliana of knowing a home before she was even old enough to understand what that really meant.

Her school paperwork filled out and meal finished, Juliana excused herself to her new bedroom. Exhausted from her long day of travelling and confused from the swirl of emotions in her heart, Juliana fell into an uneasy sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Her dreams were filled with soft laughter ringing in her ears, and the most profound sense of forever, of warmth, of _home_ , bracketed by the deepest, clearest blue Juliana had ever seen.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The streets of Red Lake were as familiar to Valentina as her own home. She had hundreds of memories from growing up, wandering the streets with her friends, playing in the park with Guille while Eva sat at a picnic table looking annoyed and above it all. Bake sales on the square, brisket burrito fundraisers, summers spent floating between houses with bikes and basketballs. Valentina seemed to always be out on the streets, being chased by Guille, avoiding Eva, or just running around with Sergio, Lucho, and the other kids in the neighborhood. The only time she ever seemed to be at home was at night, or when her father had time to spend with her. 

Valentina had always been close with her father. Her mother died when she was young, Val didn’t have many clear memories of her. She knew her mother was kind and loving, Leon said Valentina had inherited her mother’s loving disposition, her compassion for others, her almost too large heart. Nothing had made Valentina happier than spending time with her father. He taught her everything, secrets he learned growing up as a cattle rancher, stories of his struggle to establish her family’s magazine and make it into the credible source it now was, little anecdotes he had picked up along the way. Leon never minded Vale’s impulsive nature, as long as she was safe. Some of Val’s fondest memories of her father were him teaching her to drive and maintain his motorcycle around their neighborhood, then presenting her with one of her own when she passed her test. 

When Leon introduced Lucia to the family, Val warmed up to her immediately. Unlike her older siblings, Val didn’t have the memory of her mother to compete with accepting Lucia into their family. Valentina welcomed Lucia into the family with open arms and a warm smile. After a while, Vale found that she genuinely liked having Lucia around and would occasionally find herself spending time with Lucia just because she liked the older woman’s company. Eva clearly disliked Lucia, but she held her tongue after Leon reprimanded her the first time she spoke out against Lucia. Guille seemed indifferent, too caught up in his own budding relationship with Renata to really care about Lucia and Leon. He was kind to Lucia, a middle ground between Val’s immediate care and Eva’s cold distance. 

Val had been ecstatic when Leon announced he and Lucia were getting married. She was so happy their family was expanding. Lucia had brought a warmth into their own that seemed to surprise even her and Valentina was happy that warmth would remain. She could already see the great times they would have as a family, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries and graduations. Family dinners and shared laughter as their family expanded through weddings and children. Eva would say Val’s expectations for the future were too simplistic, she needed to accept reality, but Val had always been a dreamer. The future, she knew, was bright and full of the love and laughter she had come to call home. 

All of that was gone in the blink of an eye it seemed. 

On what should have been a day of celebration for the Carvajal family, they were instead torn apart by the sound of gunshots and screams. Val had sobbed into her brother’s chest as her father’s body was carried away. Lucia collapsed on the floor, tears flowing down her cheeks and her white dress stained red. Nothing had been the same since that day. Valentina spent less time out wandering the streets with her friends and more time holed up in her bedroom. Lucia retreated out to the Carvajal ranch, claiming it was less painful as she and Leon hadn’t spent as much time together there as they did in the town house. Eva returned to Houston and the branch of Carvajal Magazine she was managing with her husband Mateo. 

Gullie and Valentina remained at the Carvajal’s town house with Chivis, who had been looking after the Carvajal children since they were little. Gullie spent most of his time with Renata, trying to get back to normal. He encouraged Val to do the same, but she wasn’t in the mood to deal with Lucho’s affections for her. She kept to her schedule, cross country practice before school, yearbook after, except for Tuesdays when she helped print, stuff, and deliver the weekly paper. Lucho insisted on joining her every Tuesday, until Val simply couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t understand that she was still mourning the death of her father, that her world had completely changed. All he cared about was Friday’s game and the party after it. 

Valentina had walked home alone from the paper after breaking things off with Lucho, regretting that she had agreed to walk with him in the first place. She felt cold and broken the whole walk home, oblivious to the world around her. It wasn’t until she had gotten home and climbed the stairs to her room that Val had come back to herself, feeling like she had missed something important. The feeling settled over her uneasily, making her sleep restless and dreams darker than she wished. The emptiness inside her heart felt bigger than ever. 

Walking into class without Lucho’s arm wrapped around her shoulder had caused people to stare, but Valentina ignored them in favor of sitting in the back of the room, working as quickly as she could in the hopes that she could finished with enough to time to escape to the library for a few moments of solace. Luckily, her first period teacher was absent the whole week for some conference in east Texas and the sub had no problem letting Val leave the class once she finished that day’s worksheet, only requesting that Valentina stop by the office to drop off the attendance sheet for first period. Valentina ignored the stares of her classmates as she left the room. 

The halls of Red Lake high were empty, classroom doors closed. It made Val feel far too small, being trapped in such emptiness. It was at times like these that Val found herself appreciating the fact that her school was composed of several different buildings and she’d have to go outside to get to the main office. She almost felt like she could breathe again as she cross the courtyard that separated the heritage building from the main building. The trees were still full, the grass still green as September clung to the last dregs of summer. Valentina followed the path to the office on autopilot, muscle memory telling her when to turn and stop and pull open the door. She let her body carry her to the office, her mind lost in the memory of her father. She wasn’t expecting to encounter anything in her past, so when she suddenly collided with a hard slab of wood, she released a gasp in surprise and tripped over her own feet when she tried to back away. She landed ungracefully on the floor in front of the office with a huff, her bag slipping off her shoulder. 

“Oh! !Perdon, perdon! Are you okay?” A voice Valentina didn’t recognize floated into her mind, melodic and new. Valentina’s eyes tracked over the form standing in front of her. Slightly beat-up converse lead to slim legs clad in tight jeans, a red shirt stretched loosely over the figures torso. One hand was held out to Valentina, the other curled around the strap of a backpack on her shoulder. Tendrils of dark hair framed the girls face, parted evenly down the middle. A slight gasp escaped Valentina as she locked eyes with the beautiful stranger, staring into deep brown pools that reflected the same surprise Valentina felt. 

“I’m, uh, I’m fine,” Valentina said, suddenly realizing she had been silently staring at the girl for almost a full minute. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you.” The other girls hand wrapped around Valentina’s, helping her off the ground. 

“No it’s fine, I wasn’t paying attention.” Valentina shook her head slightly as she spoke, reaching for her bag with her free hand. The other girl crouched at the same time, reaching for the attendance sheet Val dropped when she fell. They stood at the same time, hands still clasped together in between them. 

“You’re not hurt are you?” The stranger asked, eyes flickering over Valentina in a search for any visible sign of injury. 

“No, no I’m fine.” Valentina surprised herself with the smile that graced her lips, reassuring and more real than any she had given since her father passed. “Valentina,” 

“Juliana,” the other girl smiled in return, squeezing the hand still clasped in her own. 

“Juliana,” Valentina tested the name, feeling it roll off her tongue softly, “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” 

“I just moved here, my mom and me.” Juliana looked over her shoulder at the once again closed office door. “Today’s my first day.” 

“That explains it,” Valentina suddenly realized they were still holding hands and let go, dropping her hand to her side. “If you want, I can show you around the school?” 

“Oh, you don’t have too. I’m sure I can find my way around, you probably have stuff to do.” 

“Not at all! There’s still,” Valentina glanced at the clock on the wall, “twenty minutes left in first period and I’ve already finished my work. I just need to drop this off.” Valentina held up the attendance sheet in her hand for emphasis. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.” 

Juliana leaned against the wall as Valentina stepped around her, pulling the door to the office open again and stepping inside. Once she was out of sight, Juliana ran a hand through her hair. Part of her wanted to slap herself, the other half wanted to laugh. Her first day was off to a great start, hitting the first other student she met with a door before she even made it too class. Juliana’s cheeks puffed out as she released a heavy sigh, hoping Valentina was really okay and wasn’t playing it off for Juliana’s sake. 

There was something familiar about Valentina, something in the blue of her eyes that Juliana could swear she recognized. It was impossible, Juliana knew. She had only met Val moments ago, but the encountered had done more than knock Valentina off her feet. Before Juliana could ponder the strange familiarness of Valentina, the girl herself stepped back out of the office. 

“Can I see your schedule?” She requested, the corner of her mouth quirking up in a half-smile. Juliana fished the paper that had her classes printed on it out of her back pocket and handed it over, their fingers brushing as Val took it. “Follow me,” 

They left the office together, Juliana following Valentina down the hallway, up a short flight of stairs and, after pausing for a second beside a door, up to the third floor of the main building. 

“You’ll have Chemistry in here,” Valentina pointed to the door directly across from the stairwell, “and then Algebra II is through there,” Valentina gestured down the hall, to a door on the left side, that marked the midway point of the hallway. “All your other classes are in the heritage building and the gym.” 

“Good to know,” Juliana followed Val back down the stairs and out the side door they had paused beside earlier. 

“Oh! We have a couple classes together.” Valentina said as they walked. “Theatre, Yearbook and Athletics. We normally go to the football field for Athletics, but sometimes in the winter we’ll go to the gym instead.” Juliana pointed at a building across the street, a staircase bracketed by two statues of hawks leading to three sets of double doors. 

“Where’s the football field?” Juliana asked, not having remembered seeing a stadium on her long walk through town the day before. 

“It’s a couple blocks away,” Valentina pointed north, “there’s a bus that comes to pick us up, or I can give you a ride over there.” Juliana nodded her understanding, though Val didn’t see as she was busy pulling her phone out of her pocket to check the time. “The bell’s gonna ring soon. Your second and third period classes are in here.” 

Juliana followed Valentina into the heritage building, up a flight of stairs until they stopped in front of one of four doors on the second floor. “You’ll be in here for second and then downstairs, first door on the left for third. You remember where the chemistry room is for fourth period?” 

“Thanks for showing me around.” Juliana said after nodding to indicate she knew where to go. 

“My pleasure.” Valentina smiled at her, the motion easier than it had been in weeks. “Hey, do you want to get lunch together? We have open campus so we don’t have to eat in the cafeteria.” Valentina didn’t wait for a response as the bell signaling the end of first period rang. “Meet me at the picnic table in the courtyard after fourth!”

Valentina was gone before Juliana could say anything, somehow easily disappearing in the mass of students filling the hall. A slow smile spread across Juliana’s lips as her new friend disappeared, a warmth that Juliana didn’t understand but welcomed rising in her heart. 

Somehow, Juliana knew meeting Valentina would be the best thing to come out of her sudden move to Red Lake. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! I'm bummed that AAM has ended but I'm super excited to continue exploring these two characters (and holding out hope for a s2/spin-off). 
> 
> Feel free to hit me up on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/oimdil13) to chat (about this or anything else)

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the juliantina hs!au!. I'm so pumped to share this universe with you guys and I hope you enjoyed! We've got a pretty long journey ahead of us so I hope you'll stick around. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!  
> -Ambs


End file.
